


Chef James

by TintedPink



Series: Lysa Does Something Stupid [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Multiple Personalities, No interpersonality conflict, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, The winter soldier as a separate personality, Winter learns to cook
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-07 11:12:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17364848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TintedPink/pseuds/TintedPink
Summary: From this prompt I didn't follow very wellAnonymous said:For WinterIron: When Tony finds Out Bucky can cook he is surprised. He get's James to cook from him (not that this is difficult since Bucky wants Tony to eat more anyway) and is fascinated. Like Bucky likes to watch Tony in the workshop sometimes, when the mechanic is in his element, Tony develops a habit of watching Bucky in the kitchen.🙈🙊





	1. Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo,,, I’m a sucker for dual personality Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier and I can’t imagine Bucky not being personally involved in tech and wanting to get hands on with everything, but I can definitely imagine Winter paying a lot of attention to Tony. And then this happened. I hope you still like it! PS. I am a vegan and I wrote some of this stuff while gagging, so… that’s it, I just wanted to share that.  
> This was getting too long for one reply, so I'll be posting a second piece tomorrow that hopefully actually follows the prompt. This is just background and set up, it looks like...

Bucky didn’t tell people that Winter was still there. He was cold, calculating, violent, in ways that would have made the Avengers, and the public, wary. It was a decision they made together, like they make most major decisions since Bucky started coming back to himself when they were sent after Steve. It was a hard won truce between the two of them, but fighting amongst themselves left them vulnerable, and neither of them wanted that. They couldn’t afford to be vulnerable. They were stronger working together to keep their independence than they were working against each other for control. So they came to this tentative compromise

They told Bucky’s therapist, now their therapist, Dr. Koning. She was a nice woman and she burned all her session notes right in front of Bucky once the session was done, so he trusted her. Winter was wary, after the incident with the not-therapist pulling him to the surface and taking control of him again, but with time he became used to the idea of spending time with this woman to help them heal. She was a good mediator.

“Have you ever considered finding your own interests, Winter?”

The question caught both Bucky and Winter off guard. Bucky because they’d just been talking about _his_ interests, and Winter because he hadn’t been paying attention, since they’d been talking about Bucky.

“What?” Bucky asked, mimicking Winter’s confusion.

“I asked if Winter had ever considered finding his own interests, separate from yours.”

“We have the same interests,” Bucky told her, and Winter had to agree. Sure, there were some things Bucky did that Winter found boring, like spending time with Steve, but the things that Winter enjoyed Bucky also enjoyed, and got to do vicariously through him when he wasn’t “fronting,” one of their new words, himself to do them.

“Well, that may be the case now, but you’ve said that you do things that Winter doesn’t have any interest in, right?”

“Yes,” Bucky nods, and Winter starts to tune out again, because they’re talking about Bucky.

“And that means that he’s capable of liking things outside of what you like. Since you have your interests in technology and science fiction-”

Bucky snorts, but it’s not Bucky, it’s Winter. Dr. Koning smiles and greets him, “Hello, Winter. Did you have anything to say?”

“I didn’t choose to front.” He leans back in the chair and crosses his arms over his chest, ignoring Bucky’s internal order to “be nice.”

“Well, the question still stands. I know that you don’t front often for your safety, which I understand, but when you do front, have you considered looking for things outside of what you both do together to occupy your time?” Her face is carefully neutral, but Winter can how much she needs him to agree to this experiment. Bucky tries to correct him, that it’s not an experiment, but that is certainly what it sounds like. Attempt to find a new interest to establish personality outside of shared interests.

_“She just wants you to be happy. I can hear how lonely you get rattling around back there, and you don’t like any of my friends.”_

“Your friends are idiots, but they’d know immediately if I were to try and spend time with them instead of you.” He tells Bucky out loud.

Dr. Koning chimes in. “That’s why I think it would be good for you to go outside of your shared interests, that way you’re meeting new people and you don’t have to pretend to be Bucky Barnes, you can just be yourself.”

“Myself murders people.”

“Winter,” Dr. Koning sighs, “Do you want to go over this again?”

“No, you’re not gonna fix me in one session. I’ll do your experiment. I’ll find a _hobby_ .” He says the last word like it’s a slight and Barnes is inside his head _giggling_. Idiot.

“I’m glad to hear it. When we meet again we can discuss how it’s going.”

Winter gets up and leaves without saying goodbye.

\-----

“Um, what are you doing?”

Winter isn’t startled by the question, because he heard bare feet padding on the floor long before Tony Stark deigned to speak.

“Cooking.” Winter tells his gruffly, as he continues to stir the risotto.

“Oh, well, it smells good. Must mean you’re doing a good job.” Tony is tense, not quite comfortable around Bucky yet. Winter lets him maintain the illusion that it’s Bucky he’s talking to.

“If you stop talking you can have some.” The recipe Winter found was for four people, and Winter could have eaten it all, but he didn’t really want to.

“It’s 3am.” Tony countered and Winter looked over his shoulder at him.

“So?”

Tony took a seat at the island and didn’t say another word.

Winter could feel Tony’s eyes on him, but even a genius probably wouldn’t be able to figure them out from just one meeting. Bucky stirs from where he’s been dormant and is caught off guard by Tony’s presence.

_“You don’t think he’ll notice? I’m down in the lab a lot.”_

_“We’ll tell him you sleep walk. Now be quiet, you’re distracting me.”_

_“You need to add more stock.”_

_“I know!”_

“Everything okay over there?” Tony asked from the island, and Winter tensed and then forced himself to untense, muscle by muscle.

“It’s all fine.” He says, trying for Bucky’s accent and failing miserably.

Tony stays quiet again, and Winter stirs, adding stock to the risotto before he burns it. Barnes is laughing at him. Winter resolves to distract him the next time they’re sparring with Captain America.

When the risotto is finally done he spoons some onto two plates, giving himself a normal sized helping and resolving to go back for more one Tony was taken care of. “Here.” He says and sets the plate down in front of Tony.

Tony takes it and fishes a fork out from a nearby drawer, handing the other to Winter, before digging in himself.

Winter eats, analyzing the dish to see what he could have done better. The rice is not as well cooked as he would have liked, and the mushrooms are too thick for his taste. He resolves to try a different stock and thinner mushrooms next time when he realizes Bucky is trying to get his attention.

_“Tony’s thanking you.”_

Winter looks up at Tony and sure enough, he’s looking at Winter like he’s waiting for some kind of response. When one doesn’t seem forthcoming he either repeats himself or continues. “This is really good.”

“It could be better.”

_“You’re supposed to say thank you.”_

“But thank you.” He wishes that he could kick Barnes.

“Hey, everyone’s their own worst critic. I didn’t even know you cooked.” Tony is very obviously trying to be comfortable. Exposure therapy, like they did with Winter and Steve.

“It’s new.” Winter tells him. Just then, thankfully, the oven goes off, and the baked chicken is finished. Winter gets up and grabs potholders from beside the stove, Tony watches him the whole time until a tray of breaded and perfectly baked chicken is sitting on a wooden cutting board on the counter resting.

When Winter goes back to his food Tony is staring at him.  
“You made risotto.”

“Yes.”

“And you breaded and baked chicken.”

“Yes.”

“At 3am.”

“Yes.”

Tony blinks, “You are full of surprises, Barnes.”

Winter says, “Don’t call me that,” instinctively, but realizes his mistake as soon as he’s said it.

“What else would I call you?” Tony asks, probably thinking this is going to be one of those cheesy invitations to call Bucky by his first name. It’s not. He’s not Bucky. But as per their agreement, he’s not allowed to tell him that.

“James.”

Bucky groans inside their head, because he hates that, bame, but Winter isn’t left with many other options.

“I thought you hated that name.”

“It’s my chef name. Deal with it.”  
Tony looks at him, then looks at the risotto and the chicken. “You know what, I can live with that. Happy to make your acquaintance chef James.”

Bucky is irritated. Winter is pleased that he got around their rules and now has two people who won’t call him Bucky.

\------

Three nights later Tony Stark find himself in the communal kitchen with “Chef James,” and there’s gotta be a story there Tony’s missing, but the food is too good to ask too many questions, and he tries to make a little bit more conversation. Talking to regular not-cooking Bucky is difficult and some days even impossible for reasons Tony can’t explain, but cooking Bucky, “Chef James” is less intimidating. Sure, Tony has seen him wield a knife with such deadly accuracy that he should be scared of the man chopping vegetables in front of him, but he’s not. He doesn’t remind Tony anything of the man he fought in Siberia or the man who killed his parents. He’s a completely separate entity from either of them, and he’s easier to be around, because he doesn’t talk much. It’s a great start, in Tony’s opinion.

“You just gonna sit there?” James asks when Tony has been nursing the same cooling cup of coffee for twenty minutes.

“I was planning on it. I learned from experience not to step into a kitchen I wasn’t asked in. I burn water.”

“That’s impossible.” James looks over his shoulder at Tony, skeptical, and maybe the teeniest bit amused, but that might be Tony’s imagination.

“Not for me.” Tony gives him his brightest smile and Bucky turns back to the grilled cheese he’s making. It’s less complicated than the risotto, and faster. Winter is actually hungry, and wanted to make himself something rather than warming up one of the many cartons of left overs in their fridge. He will try and make his own stir fry soon, now that he’s mastered pastas, but he didn’t have the time to figure that out right now. He was hungry.

“So, is this a nightly ritual, James in the kitchen at midnight?”

“No.”

The short answer doesn’t deter Tony in the slightest.

“Okay, so how long have you been cooking for yourself?”  
“A month.”   
“Cool, cool. Nothing fancy this time around. After your last meal I almost expect you to be making tomato soup from scratch.”

“I don’t like tomato soup.”

“Have you ever had it from scratch?”

“No.” Winter has had canned tomato soup, however, while on liquid nutrition, and it wasn’t pleasant. It was not an experience he or Bucky was eager to repeat.

“Well, to each his own. Why don’t you want to be called Bucky while you’re cooking.”

He nearly says why. He nearly says it. But he bites his tongue and flips the sandwich he’s making, because if he lets Barnes front and deal with this then he’s failed and he won’t get to have his grilled cheese.

“I don’t feel like Bucky when I cook.” Not a lie, but not the secret he’s been forbidden to tell. Barnes isn’t happy, but he doesn’t make any move to try and take control.

“Oh.” Tony says, with a sincere sort of understanding that makes Winter uneasy. Because Tony does understand, on some level. Maybe he never took a stage name, or whatever Barnes is doing, but he definitely remembers not wanting to be himself, and using building, and at a darker point in his life, drinking, to accomplish that. “That makes sense.”

Winter doesn’t say anything to that, just sets down a grilled cheese in front of Tony before continuing to make his own.

“Oh my god.” Tony says around food and Bucky turns to check on him. “This is amazing, what did you put in this?”

“Three cheeses, black pepper, paprika,” Winter lists off, annoyed at having thought something was wrong. “It’s just a grilled cheese.”

“No, it’s amazing. You need to shut up.” Tony took another bite and then another.

“You eat like you’re starving,” Winter tells him, and it’s supposed to be an insult. Tony nods and swallows.

“It’s only been like,” he checks his watch, “36 hours. Friday would force me to eat way before I starved. Wow, this is amazing.”

Winter blinks, then glares at Tony.

“Unacceptable.”

Tony stops mid chew and asks, “What?”  
“Unacceptable,” He repeats and sets down the sandwich he’d been saving for himself in front of Tony as well. “Eat.”

“Um, whoa, I can feed myself.”

“Apparently not. Eat.”

Tony knows better than to question someone with Russian Murder Eyes, so he pulls the sandwich onto his plate and then goes back to eating his own. Winter nods and Bucky rolls the idea around in the back of his head.

_“You’re concerned for him.”_

_“Someone has to be. Friday isn’t physical. She can’t force him to eat.”_

_“Great observation, buddy, just remember that we’re trying to maintain a secret here.”_

_“Yes.”_

Winter finishes the grilled cheese that he’s making and then he goes to his Pinterest board for high-calorie, high-protein meals.

“Um, what are you doing there, chef James?”

Winter looks up and glares at Tony again. Tony raises his hands in mock surrender and continues eating. “Forget I asked.”

Winter did.

\-----

The next afternoon there was a fresh baked lasagna sitting on the counter in Tony’s workshop, cooling, with a plate and a set of utensils sitting docile beside it. Bucky had been the one to bring it up, but the notes was signed “James.” All it said was, “Eat.”

Tony did, then asked Friday to discreetly invite their resident former assassin to join him. Friday asked which one and Tony sighed at her.

“The one who made me this frankly delicious lasagna. Feels weird to be eating without him.”

“James is not currently in residence. Would you like me to contact Bucky to ask when he may be available?”

“Hey, look, Fri, I know he’s doing the whole, ‘I’m not Bucky when I cook’ thing, but I don’t think it’s literal.”

“Handwriting analysis as well as behavioral pattern analysis says otherwise, boss.”  
“What do you mean handwriting analysis?” Tony asks, turning to one of the many screens he was using for stats that now had a side by side picture of James and Bucky’s handwritings. James was a messy scrawl where Bucky’s was all neat loops of early thirties cursive. Okay…

“Okay. Yeah, let’s just... “ Tony sighed, looking at the lasagna on his plate and then at the handwriting. “Just ask if James wants to come and eat with me, and pretend we didn’t just figure out… whatever this is.”

“Of course, boss.”

\------

 _“No,”_ Winter said firmly when Bucky relayed the message to him.

_“Oh come on, you took the time to make it, we should at least get a taste.”_

_“It is for Tony. He doesn’t eat.”_

_“Yes he does, you see him walking around with those protein shakes. When he said he hadn’t eaten he just meant solid food. He’s not in danger of collapsing. Come on, this is your chance to make some friends.”_

_“I killed his parents.”_

_“If he’s willing to try and look past that you should too.”_

_“Rogers is rubbing off on you.”_

Winter does not reply, and instead allows himself to front and go and see Tony. He feels distinctly uncomfortable with the gesture, but Tony was kind to them when he didn’t have to be, was under no obligation to, and after Winter got over his distrust of such kindness it had become… welcoming. He had only wanted to give Tony something in return.

“You called.” Winter’s face is as blank as it can possibly be, and Tony smiles when he sees him.

“Chef James,” he says, using James without prompting, which Winter is glad for, “I saw that you left me this, and I just wanted to make sure you got some too. I had Dummy get an extra plate, here.” He served a second helping for Winter and set it on the counter beside where Tony was sitting. “It’s amazing.” He says it like Winter didn’t make it himself. Of course it was good. Maybe it could be better with certain alterations, but for now it was good.

“Yes.” Winter began to eat, taking in all the components as one and then picking a part his next bite into individual components to taste them.

“You are a man of very few words, James.” It sounds like an observation made aloud for Tony’s benefit, rather than the beginning of some kind of discussion, so Winter says nothing.

They eat mostly in silence, with Tony making comments occasionally that are all along the lines of compliments. James thinks the meat sauce has too much meat in it and the cheese is a little heavier than he would have liked. Next time he’ll-

“So, you just started cooking a month ago? Really?”

“Yes.” Winter is a little bit irritated at having been interrupted, but he is learning to deal with irritation by not lashing out. Dr. Koning would be proud.

“What made you decide to choose cooking?”

“Nourishment is important. Learning to make it was an acceptable passtime.”

Tony nods, “Okay… right. Do you bring lasagnas to all your friends then?”

“I don’t have friends.”

“Steve would probably beg to differ.”

“Steve doesn’t know that I cook.”

“Oh, I see, this is more chef James distinctions. Gotcha. So, do you bring lasagnas to all of the people in the compound?”  
Bucky is smirking inside their head. _“It’s a fair question.”_

“No.” Winter replies to both Bucky and Tony.

“Just me then.” Tony fidgets in his seat and continues eating. “Is there anything else I should now about chef James and how he’s different from Bucky.”

“I don’t fight.” He says, and Bucky is starting to sound too intrigued in their head.

_“Maybe this will be good for you.”_

“Really? Well okay then. I won’t ask you to fight. Anything else?”  
“I don’t like those stupid sci-fi books.”

_“Hey!”_

“Interesting. Do you want some cookbooks?”

“The internet provides me with all the information I need.”

“Right, so you’ve come into the age of modern technology. Cool. Well then…” He rolls his chair back to where he keeps spare tablets, because he breaks them a lot down here. “Why don’t you take one of these. Friday can get you any book you want, and you can read to your heart’s content, or throw it in a box and forget about it like Bucky did to the last one. Whatever works.”

“If you already gave me one, then why are you giving me another?” Winter asks and Tony just holds his gaze.

“Because you’re not Bucky when you’re cooking.”

They both know in that instant that Tony has figured it out, but he’s not saying anything. Winter nods and takes the tablet from him before getting up to leave. “Finish that,” he points to Tony’s plate, “And eat at least one more.”

“Yes sir.” He mock salutes and Winter leaves the room.

 _“Shit.”_ Bucky says feeling enough panic that it starts to sink into Winter.

 _“Yes.”_ He replies, but he doesn’t really feel it. Aside from Dr. Koning, Tony is the first person to acknowledge Winter’s presence, even if he is calling him by the ridiculous name, “James.” And he’s the first person to ever give him something that was just for him.

_“Oh, no.”_

_“What?”_ Winter asks angrily as he calls the elevator.

_“You’ve got it bad, man.”_

_“No.”_ Winter was fine. He didn’t have anything.


	2. Reconnaissance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter and Tony come to terms (sort of) with their individual feelings for each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I promised cute and I’m not sure if I delivered, but I tried my very best. Also, there’s a scene with Natasha Bucky and Steve that’s in here, but I don’t know why?? I’m hoping my brain will figure it out as I write chapter 3?? Oh yeah, and there’s 3 Chapters now, because I came up with a cute title theme and I had to make it happen. See end notes for next chapter title.

###  _ “Look, so you have a crush, it’s not a big deal. There are way worse guys you coulda picked.” _

“I do not have a crush.” Winter grumbled in the elevator back to their room.

_ “You can keep telling yourself that, buddy, but we both know it’s true. I was kind of worried about him knowing, but he seems to be handling it well.” _

“I didn’t think he would figure it out.” Not from so little. Winter didn’t account for Tony’s genius extending to the social sphere, a mistake he wouldn’t make again.

_ “I had my doubts, but you took a shine to him. How could I have stopped you.” _

_ “You could have fronted.”  _ Winter said inside their head as the elevator opened to the common area attached to the Avengers’ quarters. Steve was sitting on the couch sketching like it was any other Thursday and Winter groaned inside their head loud enough to make his point clear. He didn’t want to interact with Steve.

_ “Oh shudup, you big baby. Give me the reins.” _

Between one blink and the next Bucky was fronting, smiling at Steve like he was actually his friend instead of giving him Winter’s death glare.

“Hey Buck,” Steve smiled from the couch, putting down his sketchpad. “I didn’t see much of you this morning. You enjoying the new book?”

Winter rolls his eyes inside their head. It shouldn’t be such a strong emotion, but it nearly gives Bucky a headache.  _ “Why do we bother with this boring moron?” _

“Yeah, just got to a good stopping point, went to see Tony.”

“Oh really.” Steve looks away like he’s non-chalant and Bucky tries not to agree with Winter’s irritation too much. 

_ “He’s going to whine.” _

_ “It’s not whining. He and Tony have some stuff they just haven’t worked out yet.” _

_ “They’re never going to work it out so long as he’s being such a self-righteous-” _ _   
_ “Bucky?” Steve asked, having looked back up at him when his too-casual question didn’t receive an answer. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, just got a little distracted. What were you saying?”

“I asked how Tony was.” Steve looked away again and Winter rolled his eyes.

“He’s doing good. Eating for once.”

“That’s good. He depends too much on those protein shakes.”

“Like you’re one to talk. How many meal bars have you had this week?” Bucky laughed, trying to lighten the mood as he went over to the couch. “You know those are for missions and emergencies, right? You’re supposed to eat real food.”

“I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately, the meal bars are easier.” Steve said, his shoulders tightening and his pencil twitching in his hand like he wanted to do something with it but couldn’t. “It’s not like you’re much better. I can’t remember the last time I saw you eat.”

“I eat plenty, asky Friday.”

“It’s true, Mister Barnes’ body consumes regular meals.” Friday chimes in, and Steve looked up at one of her cameras.

“That’s kind of weird way to put it.” He tells her and Bucky and Winter are both panicking. If Friday tells Steve… they’ll never hear the end of it. 

“I was under the impression that humans used their bodies to eat, Captain, was I wrong?” There’s such a subtle layer of sarcasm there that it made Winter grin and even Bucky had to hide his amusement as Steve fumbled for an answer.

“No, no. Of course not. You know you’re not. I just- It caught me off guard, is all. It’s not the way people usually put it.”

“Well I am an artificial intelligence Captain, the way I ‘put’ things is inherently different.”

“Right, okay, forget I said anything,” Steve smiled at the cameras, “I’m sorry.”

“You’re forgiven.”

“I like her. She puts you in your place.”

“And what place is that you jerk?” Steve asked, setting his sketchbook aside.

“At the bottom you overgrown punk.” Bucky tackled Steve to the ground just as the elevator opened again.

“House rules, boys. No rough housing outside the gym.” Natasha said, her deep red hair tied up in a low bun.

“Oh come on, Nat, are you gonna tattle?” Steve asked from the ground, distracted, so Bucky was able to get him into a headlock. He ignored Winter telling him to snap Steve’s neck because he knew that he didn’t mean it. Mostly.

“I’m thinking about it.” She raised an eyebrow at them, “How long do you think you can hold him like that Bucky?”

“My record was eight minutes twelve seconds when he was mad at the Sanders kid for calling Nacy Grace a name that’s not fit for polite company.”

“He deserved that beating.”

“And he was gonna get it, but not from your scrawny ass. You woulda got yourself stomped in that fight and you know it.”

“I coulda handled it.”

“Boys,” Natasha sighed, stepping over them to get to the remote just to prove a point. “If you’re going to fight it has to be in the gym. No common area fighting allowed.”

“Yes, Natasha,” Steve said right before he turned over and slammed Bucky into the ground, elbowing him in the ribs.

“Ow, watch it you damn punk!” Bucky grunted and pushed Steve off of him.

“You started it.” Steve smiled as he got up, offering Bucky a hand. 

“You deserved it. Acting like an ass about Tony.”

“I was doing no such thing.”

“Yeah you were. You’re avoiding him and trying to be sneaky about gathering intel, but you’re not sneaky Steve. You’re a terrible liar, always have been. Just go apologize.”

“I already apologized.”

“No, Tony apologize, you accepted his apology. You proud asshole.”

Natasha turned the TV on and cranked the volume. “I recommend moving to the gym if you’re going to keep arguing.”

“Point taken!” Steve said as she continued to raise the volume to earsplitting levels. She didn’t turn it down and instead loooked at Bucky.

“Understood!” He yelled, finally covering his ears against the noise.

Natasha started to turn the TV down just as Friday muted it.

“Boss says volume is a privledge for people who know the difference between enjoyably loud and annoying to other people.” Friday tells them, displaying a timer on the TV that started counting down from ten minutes. “Boss says you need a time out.”

“Now look what you’ve done Natasha, we’re in time out.” Steve laughs, but there’s tension there, like he wants to laugh, but feels like he doesn’t deserve to.

“Talk to him.” Bucky reiterates, and for some reason this makes Winter turn over in their head, like he’s doing the mental equivilent of pacing. 

_ “What? What is the problem?” _

_ “He hurt Tony.”  _ Winter grumbled the way a child too old to believe they’re justified in their petty anger might. 

_ “To be fair, so did we.” _

_ “We apologized.” _

_ “Stevie’s got a lot of pride and a lot of bullheadedness. He’ll come around.” _

_ “He’s taking too long.” _

“Bucky?” Steve asked, waving his hand in front of his face again. “You zoned out again. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I just haven’t slept well the last couple nights. New hobby’s been keeping me up past my bedtime.” He winked at Steve just to see him blush. It was still too easy.

“Yeah? Your new hobby got a name?” Natasha asked from the couch, remote thrown carelessly onto the coffee table.

“Not one that’s any of your business.” Bucky said, and Natasha raised an eyebrow in challenge.

“Isn’t it?” She asked and Steve laughed.

“Oh you’re in trouble now, Buck.”

“Ain’t no trouble to be had. Because Natasha respects my autonomy and would never encroach on my privacy, right Nat?” Bucky gave her a sickly sweet smile and she scoffed.

“You’re no fun.”

“I don’t aim to be. My personal life is for me. And that’s a boundary I am very comfortable drawing. Make my therapist proud and respect it Natasha.”

She rolled her eyes and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. “You boys have lost TV privileges. Go darken someone else’s doorstep.”

“We were here first.” Steve started to protest, but Bucky rolled his eyes and swung an arm around Steve’s shoulder to guide him to the elevator.

“Not if we want Natasha to keep her spy nose out of my business we’re not. Bye Natasha.” He waved as Friday opened the elevator door for them.

“I left my sketchbook in there.” Steve tried to pull away, but Bucky kicked him in the shin.

“She’s not gonna do anything to it. It’s not like you don’t have a dozen of them upstairs.”

“But I was working on something.”   
“And you put it down to spend some time with your best pal. Come on.” The elevator stopped at the gym’s floor. “Let’s take Nat’s advice. I always feel better after kicking your ass anyway.”

“Oh you’re on.” Steve laughed, but he had his game face on.

So long as he wasn’t thinking about what Friday said, or Bucky’s “new hobby” then Bucky was satisfied. So long as Winter was a secret he was still safe. They were safe. Even in the compound they always took precautions.

It wasn’t a thought so much as an understanding that passed between them. They always took precautions with their friends and their enemies, but with Tony they felt safe. Safe enough not to start running once Tony figured it out. Safe enough to still want to be around him despite that, though that was mostly fueled by Winter’s new crush.

_ “Not a crush.” _

_ “Yeah, sure it’s not.” _

Winter growled inside their head. 

\----

That night they were trying out a new recipe, piada, italian flat bread. Winter liked the work of kneading the dough even if he did have the wear the disgusting plastic glove over his metal arm to keep the dough from getting caught in the joints. He finds lard disgusting, but the recipe assures him that it will be good.

“What are you making there, Chef?” Tony asked, coming into the kitchen with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Piada.”

“Huh, interesting choice.”

“Kneading dough is meditative.” He continues to knead the dough, ignoring Tony’s scrutinizing interest.

And Tony is interested. James kneads dough like he’s been doing it his whole life, and Tony knows what that looks like. Tony grew up in a kitchen with a well trained butler who knew his way around food. Tony almost couldn’t believe the confidence and concentration James kneaded dough with. It was kind of sexy. Which was kind of confusing. Tony decided it was one of the emotions that was meant to go in the box and stay there, locked up like portals and broken tumblers. 

“So, what are you going to fill your piadas with?” Tony asked, taking what was becoming his “usual” seat at the island. 

“Greens, meat, cheese.” Winter listed off, having already chosen the array, though he was waiting to prepare the filling until the dough was kneaded and rising.

“Good choice. Might I recommend  _ squacquerone _ . Just tell Friday and she’ll get you anything you need.” Tony said, watching Winter’s hands knead. It was meditative, strangely.

“The kitchen is always amply stocked.” Winter looked at Tony like he was offended at the suggestion that what was already there wasn’t good enough for him, which was oddly flattering, but a little bit scary.

“Yeah, sure, but sometimes when you cook you need specialty ingredients I don’t keep on hand. If that happens, ask Friday.”

“I have made due.” Winter squints, like he doesn’t quite understand the idea of asking for more than he really needs. Tony’s heart breaks a little.

“Sure, but I’m trying to say, you don’t have to.” Tony reiterated with a nod and flourish of his hand. “Half the stuff here has never been touched. If I can provide you with something you want, I’m happy to do it.”

“That isn’t your responsibility.”

Tony sighed. “You brought me an entire lasagna, James. Let me repay you the only way I know how, by giving you an unlimited line of credit.” 

Winter blinks at Tony and says nothing for exactly seven seconds. When he finally speaks he catches Tony off guard.

“Friday, order ingredients for Tony’s favorite food.”

“You got it Mr. Barnes.” 

Tony looked at James with disbelief. 

“You said anything.” Winter reiterates, like maybe Tony is gaping because he forgot he said that.

“Yeah, I heard. I just… I can’t believe it.”

“You saw it happen.” Winter tilts his head to one side as he considers Tony. “You aren’t particularly smart.”

“No, I’m very smart, super soldiers are just weird and confusing and that’s your fault.” Tony points at him. “You. You did this.”

“You could have stayed in your lab.” 

Tony was caught off guard at that, taking a deep breath in and seemingly contemplating his decisions. “Well. You. I.” Tony was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. Him. Tony Stark, inventor of word vomit, didn’t know what to say. Because yes, he could’ve stayed in his lab, chosen not to interact with James the way he has been choosing not to interact with him for months but… he didn’t want to. He wanted to see James. To just watch him cook and be in his environment and breath his air and analyze his weird split personality and holy shit Tony had a crush on him. Holy shit. That explained so much. Like why Tony was unnaturally obsessed with him kneading the dough. That shouldn’t have been sexy, but it kind of was because Tony was into James. Holy. Shit.

“Holy shit.”

“What’s holy about it?” James asks as he puts the dough into a silver bowl and covers it with plastic wrap. 

“The fact that it’s statistically so unlikely.”

Winter was the one who was confused now, tilting his head and watching Tony curiously. “What is statistically unlikely?”

“Come to my lab. Tomorrow. Please.” Tony slid off the stool and hurried off. He felt so stupid. Please? Why did he say please? Really, what possessed him? Tony Stark didn’t say please just because… just because…

Tony stepped into the elevator to go back to the lab. 

“Holy shit.”

————

Winter was in Tony’s lab as promised the next morning. He brought food with him, a delicious stack of crepes that really shouldn’t have been so good. He typed a note to Friday to get the footage from the kitchen when James was making them for him to review later. For reasons. Friday’s types back reply was, “you got it boss” and somehow she managed to convey smugness without doing anything differently. Or maybe it was just Tony projecting. Probably. Ugh. Feelings were the worst.

“Eat.” Winter tells him, pushing the plate of strawberry crepes towards him.

“Taking a break from Italian?” Tony asks to lighten the mood as he drizzles syrup on the already sugar coated crepes.

“Yes.” James says, without any really emotion or intent to explain further behind it. Tony really has to pull answers out of the guy, which Tony wouldn’t care about so much if he didn’t want answers so bad.

“Alright, what’s your new inspiration?”

“Mexican.” James begins to eat his own plate of crepes, apparently having picked up on Tony wanting him to eat with him very quickly. Well good.

Tony didn’t know what else to say, so he dug in. Crepes weren’t Mexican, but then again he’d been making grilled cheese during what Tony assumed was his Italian phase, so maybe stranger things had happened? Well, he had a crush on one personality living inside a guy, so yes, stranger things had definitely happened, but this was still strange. 

Ha, Strange. Maybe Tony should bug him. It had been a while. Thought for later.

“These crepes are on par with professional restaurants that I’ve eaten at. You’re a really exceptional cook, James.”

“The Winter Soldier is always exceptional.” 

And now Tony  _ knows  _ they’re separate people because Barnes had made it very clear that he didn’t want to be addressed by that title ever again, but this guy seemed to wear it like a badge of honor. Interesting. Maybe the connotations weren’t the same for him as they were for Bucky. “I’m sure you are big guy. Good work.” Tony continues to eat, but James keeps watching him.

“You called me here.” James says, watching Tony eat his crepes intently.

“Yes.” Tony decides he wants to try out James’ one word answers, see how far they get him.

“Why?”

And that was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? Why? Why had Tony run off last night only to ask James to be in his lab the next day. Why, why, why? 

“Because I wanted you to see me in my element.”

At first it sounds like bullshit, even to Tony’s ears, but then Tony thinks about it. Tony loves watching James cook, he knows this after only watching him do it a few times. Tony loves his tech. Tony wants James to watch him build like Tony watches him cook. It’s either some weird sort of hind brain courting, or Tony really is a narcissist. He’s voting for the latter because he’s not even prepared for the implications of the former.

“Okay.” James nods and continues to eat his crepes, watching Tony intermittently. Tony feels scrutinized, but not judged. Observed like a bug under a microscope, but no one intends to hurt him. He feels… okay. Which is weird for Tony. Usually people watching him makes his skin crawl.

Tony finishes his crepes in record time so he can get back to his work, and James continues to watch him.

Winter is fascinated by Tony. Sure he can hear Bucky enjoying the technology in the background of their headspace, but all of Winter’s attention is on Tony. Tony’s hands as they manipulate the hologram. Tony’s mouth as he bites his cheek, licks his lip, sticks his tongue out like he’s concentrating. They’re all behaviors he’s seen before, learned how to analyze for tells, ticks and weaknesses, but that’s not what he’s doing while he watches Tony work. He’s watching Tony just to watch him, just to know. It’s reconnaissance, but not for any mission Winter can name. Perhaps it’s just a mission to know Tony, who gives Winter his own things, better. To know the way his eyebrows tilt together when he’s onto something, and his forehead smooths out when he has some kind of solution to a problem. And Tony’s hands, as they work, are their own sort of interesting, strong, steady, side, admirable qualities in hands and people. 

_ “Still wanna deny that crush?”  _ Bucky asked, since Tony had moved on to coding, which neither be nor Winter understood at the level that Tony was working.

_ “I have an interest. It is not a crush.” _

_ “Tony and Winter sitting in a tree. Please don’t kiss him while you’re me.” _

_ “Idiot.” _

“Why are you so smiley over there, Soldier? I’ve never seen you smile like this.” Tony asks, a smile on his own face.

“It’s your fault.” Winter schools his face back to carefully neutral and Tony laughs. “There are a lot worse things that I could be doing than making you smile. I’m honored to be graced by such a beautiful gift.” Tony bows so he can pass it off as just another joke, but Tony’s not joking. James’ half smile is one of the most amazing things he’s ever seen, which I stupid because smiles are smiles and cannot by definition be anything be smiley. 

_ “He likes you too.”  _ Bucky tells Winter, surprisingly okay with the idea of Winter and Tony being into each other. Even Bucky is surprised by it, actually.

_ “Irrelevant.” _

_ “It’s gonna be relevant pretty soon, pal. Trust me.” _

Winter has been staring at Tony for too long, and Tony is starting to look worried that he overstepped.

_ “Tell him his smile is nice.” _

“Your smile is nice.” Winter repeats and Bucky facepalms inside their head.

_ “Idiot.” _

Tony smiles, “What, this old thing? It’s just something I threw on.”

“It suits you,” Winter says without any coaching. Bucky gives him a mental high five.

Winter is trained to notice things, so he sees the way that Tony’s head briefly sucks instinctively in… embarrassment? No. Something else. Related interest. 

_ “That’s bashful. You made the boy blush, Winter!” _

_ “This is… good?” _

_ “Oh yeah.” _

Winter nods at Tony, who clears his throat and goes back to coding.

_ “He isn’t responding.” _

_ “That’s okay. We’ll get him to come around.” _

_ “We?” _

_ “Yeah, we. You sure as hell can’t get a man like that by yourself. Your social skills are shit.” _

Winter, for the first time in his short, but far too long, life, has to ask Bucky for help. It nearly kills him.

_ “Teach me.” _

_ “Pal, he’s gonna be eating out of the palm of your hand when I’m done with you.” _

Winter likes to feed Tony, and isn’t at all opposed to this idea.

Bucky facepalms harder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next title is Conquest, (but there’s not going to be any sex, so get your mind out of the gutter, lol). They’re finally going to get together and I’ve been waiting 6000 words to write it!! :)


	3. Conquest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winter and Tony are cute. Steve is sad. Winter is Happy. Bucky is also sad. But happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is long, but enjoy :)

The pizza dough is fun. Winter makes the dough and shapes the dough a dozen times, before he finally gives up on using the latex glove. It impedes his ability to shape the dough, tearing it where the latex comes in contact with the dough. He tries dusting his fingers in flower but it only works so long as the flour stays on the latex, which it doesn’t for very long.

“I need skin.” Winter tells Tony in his lab one day while they’re eating Winter’s most recently perfect creation, a Pad Thai that Tony is very fond of. It satisfies Winter in a primal way to be taking care of Tony, giving him the things he needs, making him happy with his creations.

_ “Crush.” _ Bucky mocks him in their head again, and Winter wants to scowl, but Tony is watching him, so he can’t. 

Tony stops mid chew to look at him. “When you say that, you don’t mean in a weird, ‘it puts the lotion on it’s skin’ way, do you? Because I can support a lot of weird stuff, but I draw the line at supporting a cannibal fetish.”

Winter tilts his head, furrows his brow, squints his eyes at Tony. “Do you think I’m a cannibal?” Winter thought that Tony was different, that he understood. Was he just afraid of him this whole time? Was Tony eating his food thinking that Bucky was serving him humans? He would never do something so atrocious!

“Whoa, whoa, hey, you got a murder face on buddy. That’s not what I meant. It’s just a weird request, and that was a movie reference, alright? I wasn’t implying anything. It was a joke in bad taste. I’m sorry.” Tony has his hands up like he’s afraid of Winter, and it makes Winter cringe back in his chair. 

“I would never hurt you. In any way.” Winter’s voice cracks and Bucky is trying to be soothing inside their head but Winter is barely coherent of it. He’s spiraling into a dark place of remembering all the terrible things he’s done and the people he’s hurt, including Tony. Tony. Tony who is afraid of him enough to stick his hands in the air like Winter might  _ hurt him. _ Like Winter has already hurt him once before.

“I know that, hey, hey, I know you wouldn’t. James. James. You gotta stay with me buddy.”

_ “Winter, either talk to Tony or call the therapist. Winter. Winter!” _

Tony. Tony. Tony. “Tony.” Winter finally whispers, maybe whimpers. “Tony, I’d never hurt you.”

“I know you wouldn’t. You make me all this great food, and you keep Steve away from my lab, which is really great of you by the way because he’s a pain in my ass. I know you wouldn’t. I know, James.”

Tony is standing so close, and he’s looking right into Winter’s eyes, right into the eyes that had watched so many people die. His hands are on Winter’s face, right there, and he’s not afraid. Winter can see in his eyes that there’s not any fear. Winter blinks and unconsciously mimics Tony’s breathing pattern, a six count and then a four count out and in. Bucky gives him an easy out to change the subject, reminds him of the skin. “I needs skin, for my metal hand. You make synthetic ones, don’t you?”

Tony takes a deep breath and then laughs. “Of course that’s all it is. Yeah, Jamie-poo, I can get you a synthetic cover for this,” he taps Winter’s metal arm. “I’m actually surprised you didn’t ask earlier. It might bulk you up a little bit, since the skin is a good millimeter thick, but with the right adjustments it would fit better than a glove, because most gloves actually fit terribly, impeding motion, removing sensation…” Tony trails off like he’s thinking. “Let me see what I’ve got.” Tony takes his other hand away from Winter’s face and sits back down in his chair to roll his way to the other side of the lab. “We’ll have to get a good scan of the arm at a few angles. Do you need the whole arm covered up the shoulder, or are we talking elbow, past the elbow, just to the wrist, trigger finger…” He starts pulling out synthetic samples from his desk near the fabrication units. “I’ve got lots of different textures, if you want to come and feel them out. Feel. Okay, that could have been a joke,” Tony looks back over his shoulder at Winter, already nearly absorbed in this new project the same we he gets absorbed in all his other projects. It should make Winter feel bad, like an object, but it doesn’t. He feels amazing. Because why wouldn’t he feel amazing with Tony Stark focusing all his time and attention on him? 

_ “Wow, that was cheesy, even for your middle schooler brain.” _

_ “Shut. Up.” _

“James? Do you want to come and choose a type of synthetic skin?” 

Winter doesn’t know what possesses him to say it from across the room, still staring at Tony, rooted to the spot where he left him, but he says it anyway, “Thank you.”

Winter didn’t know what he had expected when he asked Tony for skin, perhaps reluctant acceptance, a promise to put it on the list of a dozen other tasks Tony handles on a daily basis, but not this. Immediate help, absolute enthusiasm, no judgement or questions. Tony was just helping him, without asking himself what Winter could do to help him back, or telling Winter he’ll owe him now, or making a point of reminding him that Winter is at his mercy for his help. Tony is just helping him without asking for anything in return, and Winter knows that this is possible, that this is something people do, but he’s having a hard time accepting the kindness for something so large.

_ “He likes you too. I’m telling you.”  _ Bucky says inside, but Winter ignores him.

“Hey, it’s no problem. Anything that I can do to help.” Tony weighs the two skin samples in his hands. “I’d recommend this one for the arm. It’s got a lot more tensile strength and won’t rip as easily while you’re going about your day to day. It’s a little heavier, a little taunter, but with the strength in the arm I don’t think you’ll notice much.” He looks back up at Winter, who’s staring. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“You’re under no obligation to help me.” Winter says it like a statement, but Tony senses a question behind it, like he can’t quite understand and he wants an explanation. Well then.

“I’m not under any obligation to help any one. I have enough money to live off of it for the rest of my life and never do another unit of work in my life, but I don’t. Because I want to help people.” He rolls back over with the samples and stops in front of where Winter is still sitting. “I want to help you. Helping people makes me happy. I’m glad that you’re asking for help. You almost never do.” He holds the samples out to him. “Feel this. Think it will work?”

Winter reaches out and touches the fake skin with his flesh hand. The texture is almost scarily like skin, and Winter nods. “This will work.” Tony has successfully distracted him, as Tony often does. He would have burned himself in the kitchen several times if his metal arm could burn.

“Great. Now how much do you want?”

“Just to the forearm, I should be able to manage with that.”

“Should be? Do you have plans for your new flesh hands?” Tony sets the sample on his desk and brings up his most recent scan of the arm. He’s typing so fast and Winter is entranced. He loves to watch Tony work, nearly as much as Bucky does. Bucky likes to watch because he cares about the technology, but Winter likes to watch because of Tony. Winter can’t remember ever being as passionate about anything as Tony is about his technology and programing and engineering. Even Bucky has his stupid books,  _ “Hey, I can feel you degrading me in there,”  _ but Winter has never really had passion. He finds something like joy in cooking, but it feels more like an occupation than a passion. He doesn’t hate doing it. He would probably miss doing it if it was taken away from him. But along those same lines, he misses cleaning his guns and sharpening his knives, and he never had any passion for using them. Cooking is procedural, and that’s why he likes it. Giving food to Tony is not procedural. Winter still likes it.

“Tossing pizza dough.” Winter answers, still watching Tony. He’s engrossed, and he can feel that Bucky is as well, though obviously for an entirely different reason.

_ “I think we’re going to have to talk about this one day bud.” _

“ _ Shut up.” _ Winter tells him absently while Tony fits a digital skin to a digital rendering of Winter’s metal arm.

Winter doesn’t even notice that Tony has looked up at him, and has stopped working, because the computer is still working and Winter’s eyes are focused on that, rather than Tony watching him.

“So you’re just running through all the classic Italian food, aren’t you? I thought you were moving on from Italian.” Tony’s eyes are bright with curiosity that Winter doesn’t even notice. Bucky notices, but he chooses not to say anything. It won’t do Winter any good to be dragged out of his reverie.

“I am. This is different.” The premade pizza dough as well as jarred pizza sauce and pre-shredded cheese had arrived and been marked for Winter in the communal kitchen where he usually cooked the day after he asked Friday to give him the ingredients for Tony’s favorite food. He had ignored them all and instead consulted the internet for instructions on how to make his own pizza. He was still stuck trying to get the crust right. It was a hassle with the metal hand. Once Tony gave him the skin covering he would be able to finish his task. Maybe Tony would smile and ask Winter to make it again sometime. Tony never asks Winter for anything. Sometimes he makes suggestions that Winter may not have thought of, but these suggestions are always for Winter’s sake, never for Tony’s. He just wants to do something nice for this man.

_ “K-I-S-S-I-N-G.” _

_ “Shut. Up.” _

“Why is this different?” Tony’s question takes too long to process because of Winter’s internal conversation with Bucky.

“It just is.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being evasive or if this is just more of you being you.” Tony tells him, clicking his tongue and turning back to his holoscreen. “Well, nevermind. Let me get this into the fabrication unit and we might have a working prototype by tomorrow morning. That soon enough for you? I know you prefer late night cooking, but that’s the best I can do.” He looks almost apologetic as he says it, and again Winter is perplexed by Tony’s sincere wish to help.

“It is sooner than I hoped for. Thank you.” He tries to smile, like Bucky had been telling him he should do, but even though he couldn’t see it he knew that it was forced. He could feel it in the way his muscles protested, despite those same muscles having smiled at Steve just hours before. Traitors.

“No problem, Chef Boyardee. I’m always happy to be of service, especially to the people who feed me.” He smiles at Winter like he isn’t creeped out by his smile, which is a good thing.

_ “If he’s willing to love you in spite of your flaws, he’s a keeper.” _

_ “That isn’t a flaw.”  _ Winter can’t glare outwardly without glaring at Tony, so he settles for pushing his agitation in Bucky’s direction.

“So, how are you liking that tablet? You haven’t mentioned it since I gave it to you. If it’s not working for you we can try something else.” Tony has learned by now that the distant face that WInter makes means that he’s not really paying attention, and it’s always best to get him back on track at that point. He doesn’t know what Winter is doing when he looks spaced out like that, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that he knows how to deal with it. Namely, asking Winter questions that he will inevitably give brief answers to.

“It is very useful. I can get recipes on it.” Winter nods like he’s weighing the pros and cons of the tablet. “The screen does not respond to my metal hand.”

Tony nods and turns back to his screen, recalibrating the fake skin to to conduct electrical currents and therefore work with screen capture. “The synthetic skin should solve that. In the meantime I’ll see if I can’t get you something that’s more pressure sensitive for when you don’t want to be wearing the falsie. It won’t be as accurate as the newer displays, but it’ll work with your left hand and you shouldn’t lose much functionality for what you usually use it for.” Tony makes a note and slips it into fabrication between Natasha’s next set of Window Bites and Steve’s new uniform of the month. “That one will take a little longer, since it needs some R&D.” But in the meantime Tony could fabricate something to test, just to check. “So what’s on your late night menu tonight James? Any big plans?”

“No.” James rarely decided what he was going to cook before he cooked it, usually preferring to look up a recipe, this usually took a half hour, and the make it with the ingredients he had in the kitchen. Most of the time he has everything he needed, but the times he didn’t the extra necessity of improvisation was always a welcome challenge.

Suddenly FRIDAY interrupted, making both men jump a little, albeit Tony a little more than Winter. “Boss, Captain Rogers is asking for Sergeant Barnes. Should I direct him to the lab?” 

“I think that’s your call.” Tony said, directing his gaze at Winter.

_ “Can you switch?” _ Winter asked Bucky inside and Bucky sent back an affirmative.

“I can meet Steve upstairs. Tell him I’m on my way FRIDAY.”

Tony didn’t miss the lack of enthusiasm that usually accompanied a Barnes-Rogers meet up. It was just more proof that James and Bucky weren’t the same person. Not that Tony needs or deserves proof. It just makes it all a little more real in his head the more evidence he collects. He hopes one day James will trust him with this information of his own volition, more than just accepting his knowledge of the separation, but he also knows that James may just never be ready to talk about sharing his body with Bucky. He tries to understand that.

“Well, I guess that’s goodbye. Come by tomorrow morning and I should have your pizza throwing hand sythensized.”

“Yes. Thank you.” Winter stands up and then after a beat he says, “Goodbye, Tony.”

Tony smiles at Winter with so much sincerity it hurts, “See ya, James.”

\-------

_ “I hate Rogers.”  _ Winter grumbles as they flip through old pictures from before Winter was “born.”

_ “He means well.”  _ The remark is as close to silencing as Bucky ever is now, and Winter almost misses when they would argue. At least then he could feel like he was going to get somewhere with their internal battle. Now there was no battle, just acceptance of their new reality, as inconvenient as it may be.

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Tony lately. Anything you want to talk about?” Steve is doing the same thing he did days before, keeping his eyes glued to pictures like he’s more invested in them than he is in their answer.

“Not with you. All the tech talk would just go over your old punk head.” Bucky grins and Steve elbows him, nearly dropping the album in his hands.

“Hey, I’m not any older than you!” He elbows Bucky back and Winter just tries not to think about how agitating it is that Rogers is touching them. He’s learned to live with it, even if he hates it with a passion.

“Listen, what me and Tony get up to is our business. I promise, if I wanted to talk about it I would. Remember what the doctor said about my boundaries.” Bucky feels bad bringing up the therapy sessions they had to go to for Steve’s budding codependency, but it’s self-preservation as well as a reminder that Steve may be slipping into old habits.

“Right. Yeah, sorry. I just get worried when I don’t see you, is all. Haven’t talked to you in days.” Steve’s eyes are still focused on the albums in front of them, but they’re sadder now, his head hanging with less purpose and more defeat.

“All you gotta do is pick up the phone pal.”

“You never have yours on you, you jerk.” Steve laughs and Bucky joins in.

“Hey, you managed to get ahold of me in the forties before cell phones, you can get ahold of me now. ‘Sides, you really wouldn’t be all that interested in what me and Tony get up to. It’s mostly shop talk.” When Winter is talking to Tony at all. He’s gotten good at these half-truths and not-lies.

“Yeah, you’re right. I know you’re right.” Steve closes the albums, “These aren’t dredging anything more up than they did the last time, are they?” 

“No, pal, sorry.” Bucky slings his arm around Steve. “And the three times we looked at them before that didn’t do much good either.”

Steve sighs. “I know I’m pushing, I just… I want you to be better.” It stings Bucky a bit, but he knows that Steve means well, that was Steve means is he wishes that Bucky wouldn’t have to deal with the nightmares and the blank spots in his memories. He knows Steve doesn’t mean to imply that there’s anything wrong with him, that he still needs fixing.

“Doc Koning says the only way to get better is to let time heal. I’m probably never going to remember everything, Stevie.” And that bothered Bucky to no end, but he was learning to live with the possibility that he was always going to be missing huge chunks of their lives before the war.

“I just…” Steve takes a deep breath and sets the album in his lap on the coffee table in front of him. “Buck, there are things you don’t remember, things that-” Steve cuts himself off, and Bucky smiles sadly at him.

“Whatever I’m missing doesn’t change nothing. You’re still my best pal.”

Steve nods, clasping his hands together in his lap, wringing his thumbs. “I know that. I know.”

“You know I love you, right Steve?” Bucky hunches to catch Steve’s eyes where they lay downcast on the plush carpet.

“Yeah, I love you too.” Steve’s smile is sad, and Bucky pulls him in for a hug. Steve tenses for the briefest moment before he relaxes into it, wrapping his arms around Bucky and holding him tightly.

“Til the end of the line, remember?” Bucky murmurs it, like he might to a child he’s soothing, and Steve nods against his shoulder.

“Til the end of the line.”

\-----

The next morning When Winter and Bucky wake up, Winter is fronting, which is unusual. Usually Bucky is the one with control of the body first thing in the morning.

_ “Eager to get to your fella?” _ Bucky’s internal tone is lighthearted and teasing, but Winter reads it as hostile.

_ “He doesn’t belong to me.” _

_ “Course not. It’s just an expression. Means like… your partner.” _

Winter considers this as he gets them out of bed and dresses the body.  _ “Tony and I would be very good partners.”  _ With Tony’s understanding of weapons technology and Winter’s prowess in arms, they would be an unstoppable team.

“ _ Not quite what I meant, but you’re not wrong."  _ Bucky takes a moment to consider that as Winter goes about their morning routine. Winter and Tony would probably make as good a team as he and Steve did. It made Bucky happy that Winter was getting so close to Tony, though the logistics of that were starting to scare him. How were they going to do… anything with Tony while Bucky and Winter shared a body? Bucky liked Tony, but he didn’t actually want a front row seat to… whatever Winter and Tony eventually get up to, and Bucky knows they’re going to get up to something. He may be old, but they still had sex in the forties, as he constantly has to remind Sam. Speaking of, they hadn’t talked to that asshole in a while, maybe it was time to go for a run.

_ “We’re going to see Tony now. Where are you?”  _ Bucky can feel Winter prodding around in their head for Bucky, who has completely missed them getting into the elevator, completely dressed, and going to Tony’s lab.

_ “Just thinking. How’s the hair, you never do the hair?” _

Winter looks at his reflection in the near mirrored elevator door, giving Bucky a full view of their hair. It… actually looks nice. Styled even. Wow.  _ “Looks good. Good job.” _

Winter doesn’t respond to the compliment. He usually doesn’t.

The elevator opens on Tony’s lab and the man himself is in full view, his back to the elevator as he focuses on his screens.

“James, that you?” He spins around, pushing the hologram away from his work area. “Course it is. I’ve got the prototype ready for you. Come here.” He rolls his chair to another workstation, and pulls out a flesh hand and forearm from a desk drawer. “It’s kind of got the composition of a silicone, so it’ll hold it’s shape when not on a mold, but I’d recommend putting it on a mold while you’re not wearing it, to make sure it maintains its shape.” Tony smiles up at Winter and pats and empty seat with the disembodied hand for Winter to sit in. “It should come on and off pretty easy. It’s not going to stick like rubber or anything, so it should slide on over the arm no problem.” Tony slides the synthetic off the mold like it’s a sheet of paper across a smooth table, and Bucky is amazed at it. “Here, let me.” He reaches for Winter’s metal arm, pulling it towards him and setting his elbow on the table, bending his forearm perpendicular to the table.

Winter feels his breath catch at the touch of Tony’s hands, even if he can only really feel the pressure of the against the metal. They’re gentle, gentler than any hands that have ever touched the arm before and the fact that it’s Tony just makes it that much more important. Tony is careful with him, but not because he’s scared, because he cares.

Tony takes the prosthetic cover and carefully pulls it down over Winter’s hand and then down his forearm. It fits like a second skin, or a first in this case, and when Tony moves his hands away Winter flexes and curls his fingers, watching the fake skin move like the real thing. It even has fingernails, and a faint dusting of hair to match the flesh arm. He smiles at it, maybe his first voluntary smile, and then turns that smile on Tony.

It nearly blinds Tony, in a figurative way. James’ teeth aren’t gleaming white in the fluorescent lights or anything cheesy like that, but there’s this subtle glow about his face with that closed lipped smile that just hits Tony in the gut. He wants to kiss him. 

“How does it feel?” He asks, breaking his own stare and returning his attention to his projections. “All the feedback I’m getting is good, no overly tense areas or obvious stress points.”

“It feels... amazing.” Winter continues to flex the hand, touches the lab table, his other hand, he can feel them just like he would if he were touching it with the arm, there’s no loss of sensation.

“Great! Next time we’ll see about giving it a little bit better connection, because I think I might be able to give you temperature sensation if I just-” Tony stops mid sentence as Winter reaches out to touch his arm. He has the urge to keep talking, but he tramps it down, instead watching Winter run the tips of his newly skinned fingers along Tony’s forearm to the back of his hand, and then up again.

_ “Ugh, what are you doing, pal?” _

Winter doesn’t say shut up so much as he feels it, feels it like he feels Tony’s skin beneath his new one, and it’s amazing, more than he ever could have hoped for. The skin gives like real skin, allowing him to touch things more softly, but he can still feel Tony. He reaches up with the other hand to touch Tony’s face, drawing his attention.

Tony gets caught in the soft intensity of James’ eyes, and now he’s really speechless, unable to form a coherent word, speechless, and there’s that smile again. Winter’s thumb draws slowly across his lips and then rests in the center of them, deterring Tony from speaking even if he had anything to say.

“Thank you.” Winter tells him, and Bucky starts thinking about something else, anything else, because he knows what’s coming. Sam is such an asshole for not calling him. Sam was supposed to be at the compound at least once a week and Bucky hasn’t seen him in eight days. What a traitor. Maybe he and Steve can take a trip into the city to pay him a visit. A nice long trip into the city. They’d pass through all of upstate New York, all the trees and fancy houses, through the boroughs. Wow, he hasn’t been in Brooklyn in a long time, like, two weeks. Maybe he can convince Steve to take a trip down memory lane. He loves trying to jog Bucky’s memory. And then there’s central park. He hasn’t been there in a while. With all the people, trees, dogs. Bucky remembers that one time when a dog in central park tried to steal his lunch, what a-

_ “You tuned out again.”  _ Winter says, and brings Bucky out of the long and looping thoughts he’d tangled himself in.

_ “Oh, you know, just thinking. Got bored watching you two do whatever that was.” _

_ “We kissed.”  _ Winter tells him , and Bucky can’t miss the giddiness in his thoughts, like a middle schooler gossiping to their friends about their first kiss. It’s endearing, really.

_ “Well, I’m glad I gave you two some privacy then.”  _ He tries not to focus too much on the sensations of the body, focusing on his thoughts, his consciousness, Winter’s projected thoughts.

_ “I should have asked you first. I apologize.” _

_ “No need.”  _ Bucky tells him, and it’s true. They share a body, it was kind of inevitable. If Bucky had really had a problem with it he would have said something a lot earlier.

_ “Tony asked me to apologize for him. Once you came out.” _

_ “Oh, gotcha. Did you tell him?” _

_ “No. He is very intelligent.”  _ The mental tone is so fond that Bucky can’t even be bothered to be bothered by where his lips had just been.

_ “That he is. You sure know how to pick ‘em.” _

Winter is pleased with himself and still smiling when he finally get to the Avengers floor. 

_ “We are going to make pizza.”  _ Winter heads straight for the kitchen and Bucky feels light inside, happy that Winter is so happy. 

“ _ Sure looks like it. I’m sure he’ll love it.” _

_ “Yes.”  _  Winter starts pulling out ingredients to make dough, all thoughts of conversation dying as he set himself on his new task. 

Well, what better thing to bring on a first date than homemade pizza? Bucky would have been shaking his head if he had control of the body. What an idiot in love. He wasn’t even ashamed to admit that he was happy for him, though maybe he was ashamed to admit that he was the tiniest bit jealous. Not of Winter having Tony, but of Winter being happy, being able to be with someone who made him happy. Bucky wasn’t sure if he’d ever have that, if he could move on from their time as a weapon.

But he didn’t dwell on it, Winter could always tell when he was thinking about the dark days. Instead he thinks about his trip with Steve and peaks over Winter’s shoulder every once in a while to offer encouragement. He’s happy for Winter. Winter is happier than Bucky has ever seen him. It feels good to know that the friend he shares a body with is so content.

Bucky focuses on that, on Winter’s new humming of AC/DC and his near constant stream of Tony-related positive emotions, and only that.

He smiles inside, and he hopes that Winter can feel it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the gods, I'm finally done. I'm gonna go light a candle and burn some incense. I think I'm probably going to do a Steve/Bucky spin off, because this didn't end as happily as I would have liked and I feel like a spin off will give me an opportunity to squish in winteriron fluff moments between stucky angst. Is that something you guys would be interested in reading? Let me know.

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr Post to Come


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